Drunk driver faces life in prison

Published 11:20 am, Monday, April 25, 2016

According to Huron County Prosecutor Mark J. Gaertner, this is the third time Kevin Lee Tetreau has been convicted of the felony charge of OUIL third offense.

A jury of five men and seven woman deliberated for an hour and 40 minutes after hearing testimony from both sides in the case against Tetreau in Huron County Circuit Court.

Huron County Assistant Prosecutor Gerald Prill handled the case before the jury. Prill said the charges came from a single-vehicle traffic crash on M-53 near the Huron County line in Sheridan Township on Dec. 5, 2004.

Tetreau escaped the crash, in which the vehicle rolled over several times and skidded 318 feet before coming to rest. He was found a short distance away from the vehicle when police arrived.

Prill said testimony during the jury trial revealed Tetreau told emergency crews at the scene he was the only person in the vehicle at the time of the accident. But according to Prill, when Tetreau arrived at the hospital his story changed and he began to claim a man named Dave from Flint  who he had met for the first time earlier that night  was driving the vehicle when it crashed.

Tetreau took the stand to testify about the man named Dave, whose last name he didn't know, and told how he couldn't remember much leading up to the accident, Prill said.

"Obviously they didn't believe his story," Prill said after the jury returned with a guilty verdict on one count of OUIL third offense, and one count of operating a motor vehicle while license suspended, second offense.

"This case is so significant because of his (Tetreau's) prior felony convictions. In 1983 he was convicted of a breaking and entering in Ohio, 1985 a breaking and entering from Huron County, 1991 a resisting and obstructing a police officer from Macomb County, 2000 in Huron County a OUIL third offense and in 2001 an OUIL third in Sanilac County," Gaertner said. "Because of the five prior felony convictions, we charged him with being a habitual offender with four or more offenses. Obviously this guy is not learning a lesson here. He has five prior felonies, two of which are felony drunk driving."

Following the jury's verdict, a bench trial took place before Huron County Circuit Court Judge M. Richard Knoblock, who determined Tetreau was guilty of being a habitual offender.

Gaertner explained the conviction of being a habitual offender changes Tetreau's possible sentence all together.

"The charge of OUIL third carries a possible sentence of up to five years in prison," he said. "Its a life offense (because of the habitual offender designation)."

Knoblock will have the discretion to sentence Tetreau to any number of years up to life in prison during sentencing at 1:30 p.m. on June 20 in circuit court.